IRISH COMPANY SIAC is in the running for a number of motorway building contracts in Poland and recently began looking at opportunities in the US.

SIAC and its local joint-venture partner PBG this week signed a €427 million motorway-construction deal with the Polish infrastructure ministry.

The civil engineering group’s chief executive, Finn Lyden, said yesterday it had reached the pre-qualification stage “for a lot of motorway work” in Poland.

Brussels is providing Poland with cash to boost its infrastructure, and the country wants to improve transport and other services ahead of jointly hosting the European football championships with Ukraine in 2012.

Pre-qualification is the second stage of the public tendering process, and comes after the Polish government has eliminated potential bidders that it believes would not be capable of completing the work involved.

At the next stage the bids are chosen largely on the basis of price. Mr Lyden said the company was hopeful that its pipeline would deliver further contracts.

In common with a number of other Irish building companies, SIAC has been expanding overseas as the industry here slowed down. It has joined forces with PBG to get a foothold in the country, and also employs a number of Polish staff who have been working with it in Ireland for a number of years.

SIAC is majority-owned by the Feighery family, and has been in business since 1913.

Mr Lyden said yesterday that it has looked at the US market, particularly on the east coast, where large parts of the highway network, which dates back to the Eisenhower era in the 1950s, need to be upgraded.

The group has also lined up a local partner in the US, but has found margins there are tight at the moment. Mr Lyden said it is likely to provide opportunities in the medium term.